Benny and the Nets

Francine Williams points to Benny Newman in an old photograph.

Francine Williams points out her father, Benny Newman, who helped bring the Huskies to Toronto.

His name on the Queen鈥檚 register was Paul Benjamin Rudolph Newman, Arts鈥39, but he was Benny to family and friends.

His fellow Gaels, when he pounded the rock on the hardwood at the Queen鈥檚 gym in the early 鈥40s, called him 鈥淥鈥橳oole,鈥 an admittedly odd nickname for a Jewish kid from St. Catharines, Ont.

The Globe and Mail in 1946 called him 鈥渙ne of the Dominion鈥檚 成人大片 authorities on [basketball],鈥 after the two St. Catharines teams he coached or managed won three national titles in two years and he had been recruited to mount Canada鈥檚 first two big-arena basketball games, a charity doubleheader at Maple Leaf Gardens.

And on June 6, 1946, in New York City, high-powered U.S. sports promoters and the owners of North America鈥檚 largest arenas called him Mr. Newman when they conferred upon him, at no cost, a 25 per cent ownership in the , one of 11 founding teams in the league that would become the National Basketball Association (NBA).

By then, Benny 鈥淥鈥橳oole鈥 Newman was just 26 years old.

The various sobriquets applied to young Benny Newman tell you a lot about the man. He was Benny, not 鈥淏enjamin鈥 Newman, because he never took on airs, according to his grandson, Jordon Williams, even as he was transforming his father鈥檚 St. Catharines scrapyard business into a nationwide metal-processing corporation big enough to supply structural steel for the construction of Toronto鈥檚 SkyDome (now Rogers Centre).

The Globe and Mail in 1946 called him 鈥渙ne of the Dominion鈥檚 成人大片 authorities on [basketball],鈥 after the two St. Catharines teams he coached or managed won three national titles in two years.

Mr. Newman鈥檚 nickname from his Queen鈥檚 basketball years 鈥 O鈥橳oole 鈥 was 鈥渒nown to all court fans,鈥 according to a column in the Kingston Whig-Standard in March 1942. He earned it, the column said, for his 鈥渃lowning鈥 on the court. The reference is likely to Ollie O鈥橳oole, a then-popular radio personality whose schtick included trading celebrity impersonations with comedian Art Carney.

Mr. Newman remained 鈥渁 cut-up and a card鈥 throughout his life, his grandson says, particularly at the big family gatherings he hosted.

But it is the Globe and Mail鈥檚 assessment of Mr. Newman as a kind of national basketball guru that most defines his early life, says Mr. Williams, who has been campaigning to get the former Golden Gael into both the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame and the international Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Benny Newman didn鈥檛 make the cut at the international hall of fame this year, his first nomination for the honour. However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver took a personal interest in Mr. Newman鈥檚 file, says his grandson, assigning someone to liaise with Mr. Williams in documenting his grandfather鈥檚 contributions to the sport.
 
The culmination of Mr. Newman鈥檚 contributions came on Nov. 1, 1946, when the first game of what would become the NBA tipped off at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Toronto Huskies 鈥 the franchise Benny Newman had helped to create and had a stake in 鈥 met the New York Knickerbockers on the same hardwood floor that Mr. Newman had paid to have built for the charity match he promoted the previous year.

The game, attended by more than 7,000 fans paying up to $2.50 a ticket, was hard fought to the end. The Knickerbockers prevailed by a single basket; the final score was 68鈥66. The game was the highlight of the Huskies鈥 underwhelming single season. The league would not embrace another Canadian team for almost half a century.

Seventy-five years to the day after that first game 鈥 Nov. 1, 2021 鈥 the NBA kicked off its 75th anniversary season with a matchup between the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks at Toronto鈥檚 Scotiabank Arena. The Raps wore throwback Huskies uniforms and the game was played on a court with the original Huskies logo: a sled dog huffing steam. But in all the media hoopla attached to that 75th anniversary rematch, you鈥檇 be hard-pressed to find even the briefest mention of Benny Newman.

鈥淗e was one of the founders of the NBA,鈥 says Mr. Williams. 鈥淗e deserves to be recognized.鈥

Growing up in St. Catharines, Mr. Newman learned to love sport early. It gave him a community.

鈥淚n those days, the kids didn鈥檛 know and didn鈥檛 care what your nationality or religion was,鈥 Mr. Newman told the St. Catharines Standard in 1989. 鈥淥n a Sunday, I鈥檇 go to Hebrew school, the Protestants and Roman Catholics would go to their churches or Sunday schools, then we鈥檇 all meet and play hockey behind the St. Nicholas school on Church Street, or basketball at a gymnasium.鈥

Mr. Newman had been an all-around athlete in high school, starring in football and track at St. Catharines Collegiate, according to the Standard, but he was passionate about basketball, inspired, says his grandson, by the hardwood exploits of his older brother, Norman Newman, Arts鈥39.

  • Benny Newman's widow, Francine Williams, and her son, Jordon, sit in their living room.

    Francine Williams and her son, Jordon, hope Ms. Williams鈥 father will be recognized for his contributions to Canadian basketball history.

  • The 1939 Tricolour yearbook senior basketball photo.

    Benny Newman (misspelled as Bennie), seated, far right, in the 1939 Tricolour Yearbook. His brother, Norm Newman, team manager, stands behind him.

As a young Jewish athlete in the 1930s, he may also have felt a special affinity for the game. In the sport鈥檚 early years, because of its popularity among inner-city immigrant kids, some of the biggest names in basketball were Jewish 鈥 names like Shikey Gotthoffer, Sonny Hertzberg, Nat Holman, and Red Klotz, according to Douglas Stark鈥檚 book, When Basketball was Jewish: Voices of Those Who Played the Game. Abe Saperstein, founder of the legendary Harlem Globetrotters, had already done more to promote the game than any other single person.

And in August 1936, just a month before Mr. Newman began studying at Queen鈥檚, a basketball team of players from Windsor and Victoria called the V8s had won the silver medal in the first-ever Olympic appearance of the sport, a tournament played in Berlin in Hitler鈥檚 Germany. Among the V8s鈥 stars was Irving 鈥淭oots鈥 Meretsky, a Jewish kid who had been only too happy to thumb his nose at 鈥渄er F眉hrer.鈥

Benny Newman came to Queen鈥檚, according to his grandson, because it was the choice of his brother, Norman. Mr. Newman the younger arrived on campus at just 16 years old, apparently as successful in the classroom as in the gym. Because of his early admission to Queen鈥檚, he and his older brother were able to graduate the same year.

But one degree was not enough for Mr. Newman. After graduating with a major in history, he started a second degree in biology, according to Queen鈥檚 records. The degree wouldn鈥檛 be completed, but it meant that Mr. Newman was a Golden Gael in both the 鈥30s and the early 鈥40s.

By then, Queen鈥檚 had a long history in basketball. Canada鈥檚 first-ever intercollegiate basketball game pitted Queen鈥檚 against McGill at Kingston鈥檚 YMCA gymnasium on Feb. 6, 1904. The game was played just 13 years after basketball had been invented by McGill alumnus James Naismith.

Mr. Newman, a 5鈥10鈥 forward, was described in a 1942 Whig-Standard column as 鈥渁 great team player, fine ball handler, consistent scorer, and all-around player.鈥

In the Tricolour yearbook for 1939, Mr. Newman is seated front row in the senior men鈥檚 team photo. His brother Norman, the team manager, is standing right behind him. The team went 2鈥13 that year, but the win鈥搇oss record doesn鈥檛 tell the whole story. The Gaels had close-fought contests against rivals McGill and the University of Toronto and held their own against highly ranked U.S. college teams during a tour south of the border.

In the 1941 Tricolour, Benny Newman is listed on the university鈥檚 intermediate men鈥檚 team. By then, his beloved big bother Norman had left campus to work at the family business in St. Catharines. Tragedy, however, was just around the corner, and it would cut short Benny Newman鈥檚 time at Queen鈥檚.

A squib on the sports pages of The Queen鈥檚 Journal on Nov. 14, 1941, tells the story: 鈥淚t was with regret the news of the death of Norman Newman, Arts鈥39, was learned here the other day. Although Norm was not known to many of the present student body, he will be 鈥榬emembered as an athlete and a student.鈥 He played on the senior basketball team in 1937鈥38 and managed it in his final year. His death came after a lengthy illness. He was a brother of Ben Newman, an undergraduate from St. Catharines, Ontario.鈥

Benny Newman would stay on at Queen鈥檚 for another year. By then, three years into the Second World War, the university had cancelled intercollegiate sports. But Queen鈥檚 allowed its facilities to be used by the Combines, a regional basketball team composed of the university鈥檚 student athletes, including Mr. Newman, and others in the city.

Mr. Newman left Queen鈥檚 in 1943. His father needed help with his business after Norman鈥檚 death and Benny had to step up, says his grandson, Mr. Williams.

Benny Newman was not through with basketball, however. In the fall of 1943, inspired by the belief that sports make boys into better men, he created the first of two St. Catharines basketball teams that would bring the city glory.

鈥淭he first thing that had to be done was to organize a real good senior team,鈥 Mr. Newman wrote in a retrospective for the St. Catharines Standard in 1961, 鈥渙ne which would give the lads something to aim at.鈥 He padded his team, the Merritton Hayes Hellcats, with American stars and coached them to a Canadian championship in 1944.

Suddenly, the former Golden Gael was the most talked-about man in Canadian basketball. The Toronto Rotary Club approached him to put together a charity basketball event at Maple Leaf Gardens, the cathedral of Canadian sports.

The ensuing basketball fever in St. Catharines allowed Mr. Newman to pursue his real goal: creating a strong local minor squad. The Hellkittens won the junior national championship in 1945, the same year the Hellcats won their second senior title. 鈥淲ithout exception,鈥 Mr. Newman would later recall, 鈥渢hose boys have gone on to be successful in many lines of business.鈥

Suddenly, the former Golden Gael was the most talked-about man in Canadian basketball. The Toronto Rotary Club approached him to put together a charity basketball event at Maple Leaf Gardens, the cathedral of Canadian sports. Frank Selke, acting on behalf of the Toronto Maple Leafs鈥 managing director, Conn Smythe, granted permission to use the Gardens, but would not spring for a hardwood floor to be laid over the ice. Undaunted, Mr. Newman paid for the new floor himself.

The doubleheader, featuring the Canadian champion Merritton Hayes Hellcats against U.S. amateur champion Phillips 66ers and the Rochester Royals taking on the Fort Wayne Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons), was a sellout.

Two weeks after the event, an impressed Mr. Selke approached Mr. Newman to represent the Maple Leafs in a meeting in New York City in which big-city arena owners and National Hockey League (NHL) team bosses would hash out the details of a new pro basketball league, the Basketball Association of America (later the NBA).

That June, 26-year-old Benny Newman found himself in the vast, ornate lobby of New York鈥檚 Commodore Hotel getting ready to negotiate with NHL legends such as Walter Brown, owner of the Boston Bruins, and James Norris, owner of the Detroit Red Wings. It didn鈥檛 faze him a bit.

鈥淭his kid had unbelievable gumption and chutzpah,鈥 Mr. Newman鈥檚 grandson says.

With a Toronto franchise in his pocket, Mr. Newman returned home to help put together his team. The Huskies hired Ed Sadowski, a 6鈥5鈥 centre from Seton Hall University, to be player-coach. The team reportedly made overtures to Jackie Robinson, then playing baseball with the Montreal Royals, but Robinson was already having talks with the Brooklyn Dodgers and decided to stay with baseball. Among the other Huskies was 6鈥8鈥 George Nostrand. To promote the opening game, the Huskies offered a free ticket to anyone taller than the big man.

Benny Newman鈥檚 team made history with its first game that fall, but its fortunes soon waned. Sadowski quit after the first few games, shifting to the Boston Celtics. General manager Lew Hayman and one of the team鈥檚 major backers, Eric Craddock, had divided loyalties; they both had a piece of another Canadian sports franchise just finding its feet, the Montreal Alouettes. And when Mr. Newman鈥檚 father fell ill early in the season, the Huskies鈥 most avid promoter had to reluctantly pull back.

The team went 22鈥38 for the season, finishing in last place. The crowds in Maple Leaf Gardens dwindled and the Huskies folded after one season. And yet, Canadian interest in basketball grew exponentially in the next two decades, thanks largely to the success of the professional basketball league Benny Newman had helped create.

When a star-studded Canadian men鈥檚 basketball team takes to the floor at the Paris Olympics this summer 鈥 representing Canada鈥檚 best hope to medal in the sport since its 1936 Olympic debut 鈥 they might want to spare a thought for a stocky former Golden Gael who stirred Canadian excitement in basketball long before the Toronto Raptors were hatched.

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